Security
by wwgost
Summary: On a return trip to the lodge, Cloud and Reno have to guard against a threat to the President.  Sequel to Strangers, but can stand alone.  Standard warnings for Smut, Language, and Reno.


Security

* * *

><p><em>And all those nights just kill a billion brain cells<br>Now I'm swelling up inside with teeth and nails, I'm feeling again  
>From the bottoms up I put the top down on this town<br>And drove it around till I passed out, I'm feeling again—John Hiatt, Feelin' Again_

* * *

><p>"Another meeting at the lodge. Fucking joy. You riding with the President, partner?" Reno lit another cigarette, waiting on the rest of the official caravan to finish loading up.<p>

No one _wanted_ to ride in the Rufus ShinRa's limo. It was a boring, awkward dance of rejected drinks and sexual advances. Rude made a noise that sounded like a bad muffler. "I have arranged alternate transportation."

"So, it's just Bossman and Elena. Hate it for 'em, I really do. Gonna need Strife's driving to keep me awake through cow country though." The lodge where ShinRa held its remote meetings was several hours from Edge. Reno, a city boy to the core, was convinced the adjoining countryside didn't have running water yet.

But he'd have Cloud. The former mercenary's acceptance of Tseng's—not Rufus'—offer to help protect the Turks had finally bridged the gap from friends to lovers, neither being able to tolerate the other's proximity before their mutual attraction took over.

Work had been a lot more tolerable after that. And if Tseng had noticed that his second's attitude had improved, he had said nothing. As an added bonus, transportation to any off site event was Fenrir. It sure beat taking the bus, Reno mused as he tossed his cigarette butt out onto the sidewalk and boarded the bike to cow town.

* * *

><p>Cloud was feeling a little evil. Reno was feeling it through Cloud's back, like a fever chill. They knew each other too well. It was a kind of connection they had. Had always had, since the old days when they were enemies. It would have made killing each other ridiculously easy had either actually wanted to do it. Neither had, of course. Every fight had been so soaked with sexual frustration that each would spend the night sleepless, twisting the sheets into a sweaty soaked mess and finding disappointingly little relief in their own hands.<p>

This was much better. But now they were on Fenrir, going at absurd speeds and approaching the rest of the caravan which was creeping along like a granny. Reno's only warning was a slight tension in Cloud's side and a grin he could feel through the back of his head.

He nearly laid the bike down, would have if he'd been any less skilled of a driver, and let it out full throttle as he passed the President's car as though it were standing still. He cut between it and the next car to pass on the shoulder, passed between two more cars in the middle of the lane and then on the opposite shoulder until he was in front of the whole caravan, traveling at speeds Reno did not want to calculate. He only knew he was riding free behind the man he loved, his ponytail whipping out behind him, and he'd never felt so alive. And he was going to be in trouble later.

That was later. He knew he should be more mature but he let out a whoop of pure joy anyway. There was a brief flicker of sympathy for Tseng and Elena, but it was soon gone.

It was the only excitement of the drive. Reno was appalled as always but the sheer rural nature of it all. To be dragged through the unbroken landscapes, dotted by closed storefronts and auto repair shops, it was hell. The only other entertainment was to mentally check off the consequences proclaimed by various church signs for all his favorite mortal sins.

Reno figured he could cross off the list drunkenness, lying, gluttony, and sodomy, and that was just since last night's dinner. Not bad. Not bad at all. Of course, he didn't even want to go there with lust, not with Cloud's firm round ass parked between his legs on a rolling vibrator for another ninety minutes.

With time to spare, they stopped by the liquor store on the lake for booze and a carton of smokes and then hit the lodge bar. "The high school had sheep in the yard! Did you see that?" Reno sounded horrified. Then again, Reno was horrified at the prospect of anywhere that didn't have sidewalk ash trays and take-out sushi.

"Does this mean our date tonight is canceled?" Cloud grinned. He was a little less frightened by the country but was glad he had Reno around to relieve the monotony. And for a few other things. It was at one of these meetings where he was providing "hired muscle" that they had become lovers. He smiled at the memory.

"Not a chance. And, it's fucking cold up here. It's not north. Why is it cold?"

"Mountain?"

"I don't know. Fuck nonsmoking government buildings anyway, I'm freezing my balls off trying to smoke here." True, Reno had identified every decent wind break on the bar's deck and well, there weren't any. His slim fingers were white and beginning to take on a bluish tinge.

"I could warm those up for you." Cloud clasped one of his hands and blew warm breath against it, not making eye contact. Reno forgot all about the shrinkage comment he was about to make. He was fast proving it false, anyway. He charged the drinks to the room and pulled Cloud after him.

* * *

><p>Reno went to slip the key card into the door, and Cloud dipped under his arm, rubbing his thumbs along his waist and over his hipbones. Reno suddenly had trouble with the key. "Stop that and I can get us inside faster."<p>

"Hmmmm?" Cloud's head tipped back and sucked an exposed bit of collarbone. Reno weighed in his mind the likelihood of any of the other lodge guests coming by in the late afternoon, of the fines and possible bail for public lewdness, of the heavenly feel of that tongue on his flesh in the cool mountain air. The deal breaker was the thought of Tseng reading the next day's paper with the headline "Turk Second In Command Sucked Off In Hallway by Ex Mercenary."

He extricated himself from that mercenary's talented mouth—"Down. Off," and opened the door. Cloud did not look particularly repentant as he walked past, biting a swollen lip and swaying against the column at the end of the kitchenette bar. "C'mere."

Reno went. When Cloud got in a mood to suck him, it was impossible to talk the man out of it. Not that he could think of a reason to do such a fool thing. He let Cloud change their places, putting him against the wall, and gasped as warm callused fingers undid the buttons on his shirt. Teeth and tongue followed where fingers had grazed his skin.

Cloud pushed his pants down and dug his thumbs into Reno's thighs, his hips, never touching his cock but only letting his hot breath ghost around it. He used only the barest tip of his tongue to lap up the drop of moisture that had leaked out and met Reno's gaze with his own.

Reno wondered if it was possible to come right then, without another touch. There was a time when he would have thrown Cloud to the tile floor to couple like minks. Now he just feathered his fingers through blond spikes and hummed his pleasure. It was torture but it was good. _So_ good.

Cloud's mouth closed around him then, too soft to bring him the friction he craved. He groaned. It was all part of the dance. Much like his tongue was now doing around him, finally. Here, the tip; there, the edge; then rubbing with the flat of it against the sensitive underside of the head until he gasped for breath.

"Hmmm?" he said again, the vibrations around his aching flesh were nearly too much. He groaned into the silence of the room, trying to take it all in as the sun set over the mountain peaks in the distance, sparkled off the lake and reflected onto the cheap carpet. It was so surreal. Reno was still in the hotel kitchenette, still in most of his work uniform, his shoes still tied, for Shiva's sake….

Cloud was deep throating him, his hand finally coming up to rub his shaft and the suction building. He came in one long spasm, filling Cloud's mouth and fighting the urge to collapse on the floor next to him. He managed to wait until his lover had cleaned him up and zipped his pants before he slid down the column with what he hoped was some kind of manly dignity.

"Better?"

"Fuck." It was the extent of his vocabulary for the moment. "I think so. Not bad for a cow town, I'll give it that." He turned his head and smiled. This new work arrangement was, well…workable.

Yeah. That was it. Workable.

* * *

><p>They woke the next morning in each other's arms, having made love again in the small hours. Reno smoked another frigid cigarette on the windy balcony, Cloud huddled behind him for warmth. An old man walked his dog along the cliff and waved in greeting; they waved back. "Small town friendliness at its best."<p>

"Still give it all for a real city, yo. Oh well, gotta go to work. See you this afternoon." With a kiss he was gone.

* * *

><p>Life around the lodge wasn't so bad. There were antique stores, bars, restaurants, art galleries, bistros. Enough to interest the average metrosexual government types that met there for security purposes. <em>More like fucking around purposes<em>, Cloud thought as he sipped his overpriced, though surprisingly excellent, spiked coffee on the lake bluff. The waiter was cute, though not as cute as Reno, and the mountain roads were made for a day like this. He let out the throttle on the bike as he drove back to the lodge, indulging himself a little. He rounded the turn and gave the older man in the convertible a wide berth. Recognition tugged at him.

The man from this morning.

It could be nothing, of course. But he hadn't lived this long as a mercenary, a terrorist, a Turk's lover, and now hired muscle by not being just a _little_ paranoid.

* * *

><p>"Well, one of us had fun today." Reno's irritation wasn't directed at Cloud, and dissipated somewhat as his lover handed him a double whiskey and a lit cigarette.<p>

"Anything you can tell your brainless sidekick or do I have to use my psychic powers to jump in at the right moment?"

"More gangs who think they can illegally drill for mako. As usual, Rufus wants us to stop the bad guys without giving us enough intel for us to be able to hatch a plan to get rich doing it ourselves." It was typical ShinRa grandiosity, he thought. Illegal mako drilling was criminally stupid. It was easy to trace and unsafe as all hells; any man willing to do it would not be a Turk, and any Turk dumb enough to try it would be tracked by his coworkers in their sleep. Reno sighed with the frustration of a man being asked to make bricks without straw. Then, having enough of his night ruined, he stood up abruptly, downed his drink, and dragged Cloud onto the dance floor above his protests. "So what did you do today?

"Just rode around. Saw our dog walker on the way back up the mountain." Cloud nuzzled Reno's neck.

"It's a small town, babe."

They grinned at each other. Their subtext, both in and out of bed, was so much a part of who they were, like a shiny coin flipped through a magician's fingers on a sunny day. They had a mystery, they both knew it, and they were on the scent. They nearly hummed with the excitement.

"I want you again."

"I noticed."

"Thought I was being subtle."

"Reno, your subtlety is poking me in the stomach."

"Well. Let's take this dance elsewhere."

They scrambled out of the bar, up the stairs and down the aptly named breezeway to their room, this time Cloud having trouble with the key card as Reno tried to strip him down in full view of the lobby at the top of the hill. They were both insatiable and neither one particularly cared. In a move that tested his coordination and flexibility, Cloud managed to get the card into the door and unlatch it behind his back and around Reno's arm, all at the same time.

"Wow. Now I'm impressed."

"Yeah. Blow jobs are so yesterday, apparently."

Reno grinned, pulling his lover into bed with him, feeling his compact warmth curl into his arms. It was a good, solid, familiar feeling. He kissed Cloud, loving the soft lips beneath his, still tasting the bitterness of the beer from earlier. He pulled up the covers before they got chilled, kissed him again. Ran his hand down that warm muscular body. "I love you so much. Gods. You break me, sometimes. I don't know what to do with it all."

"You don't have to know. Just…feel." Cloud returned kiss for kiss, touch for touch until neither could stand any more. Reno managed to find the lube in the dark—he was getting pretty good at that, actually—and pressed slim fingers up into Cloud rhythmically until his lover arched and moaned with need. Then, spreading his thighs a little wider, entered him. He was awed at the sight, Cloud beneath him, swept away by passion. He shut his eyes so he could breathe.

Just as Cloud opened his. Seeing Reno above him, pistoning his hips in and out, lost in his own pleasure. It was unbearable. He was so beautiful like that. He loved him so much; he moaned, reaching down to grasp his own shaft, aching now. Needing. Reno felt the movement and joined his hand there. He came over both their fingers, Reno following him. The only sounds in the room were their labored breath, their pounding hearts. "I love you."

"Love you too."

"Penny for your thoughts."

"Trying to figure out how to get a post sex smoke without freezing my goods off, yo."

Cloud's laughter was pure music.

* * *

><p>Cloud was just beginning to feel a little foolish about his dog walker paranoia. After all, he'd made three trips into town, though it was not a place Reno would have graced with the word, and hadn't seen the dude outside the lodge. Just every morning and afternoon, 7:30 and 4:30 on the dot, out by the bluff. The third morning, however, something tipped him off. He leaned in under the guise of groping his boyfriend and whispered low, his voice pitched for Reno alone.<p>

"Our walkin' dude? Is not our walkin' dude."

Reno's eyes went wide and he glanced over Cloud's ear to watch for a few moments.

"Fuck, yo. You're right." The shoulder wasn't draped as much and the gait looked forced. Now that Reno was observing, the dog didn't seem to be following as closely either. "Why?"

"Regular walker is sick?" The problem with personal surveillance was needing a day off.

Cloud kissed Reno passionately and dragged him inside in case there were other watchers. "Ok, question number two. Who is watching and why?"

"Rabid homophobes? It's the country for it. 'Only sheep boys for you!'" He wagged a finger in mock scold.

"I wish. I think we just stumbled onto something ugly here."

Reno looked worried. "Yeah. Big ol' hunk of ugly."

* * *

><p>Tseng's reaction was one that would have removed the last lingering doubt in the mind of anyone wondering how the man had risen to the head of the Turks. It was ruthless, instantaneous, and efficient. Reno, Rude, and Elena fanned out behind him like the remaining three horsemen of the apocalypse, securing the premises, securing the President. It was what they did.<p>

"Might not like the fucker but protecting him is our job, babe." Reno packed a small bag and kissed Cloud apologetically.

"He's alone?"

"Yeah, thank Gaia. Not sure I'd want to do a cavity search on a sheep."

They worked most of the day, coordinating patrols, doing background checks of lodge employees, interviewing anyone who might have seen the man. So far not as much as a stray blade of grass had turned up in the sleepy little town to indicate anything was amiss. Just Cloud's word, Cloud, who was getting more and more self conscious as time went on. But instead of looking at him like the village idiot, all Tseng did was keep asking him if there were any other possible security breaches in the lodge, any other possible way for an intruder to get in.

"There is always a way to get in. No building is impenetrable. Not even headquarters, and this place is at its best about as secure as a tablecloth in a hurricane. You've got guards and cameras on the President's suite and on the rooms used by Turks and other high risk areas. That's the best you can do."

Tseng looked unhappy, but accepted it. "All right then. Get some rest. Check in if you see anything else unusual."

Returning to the room, he saw a chilled Reno smoking on the balcony as twilight descended with the fog over the lake. "Hey, babe."

"Hey. Just got out of a meeting with your boss. When are you people going to meet somewhere easier to protect?"

Reno snorted. He'd been saying that for years, and to no effect. "Getting colder, sun's going in."

"Wait. What time is it?"

"Almost five. I'd better…" their eyes met. "No dog walker." He took off running. Bursting into the president's suite he found Tseng and Rude standing over a suddenly spry old man, sans dog.

"Go find the President! He's missing!" His commander called out, as he pushed Rufus' code into his cell phone and headed down the hallway.

"Boss it doesn't look good. Looks right now like he's being held in the employee wing. Signal is stationary for now. Any information on our intruder?"

"He's an advance scout for the mako drillers we are supposed to be investigating. Perhaps now the President will be more helpful with information, when you find him."

"I hear that. Closing in now. Reno out." He turned to see Cloud still behind him. "Stay back," he said, because he felt like wasting his breath.

"Sorry, being paid to protect your ass, not to stay back." Reno kicked in the door and instantly wished he hadn't.

Rufus ShinRa was jaybird naked in bed with a young man who, according to the nametag on the wait staff shirt hastily tossed over a lamp, was…"Steve? I'm Reno, second in command of the Turks, pleased to meet you." He held out his hand to Steve in introduction. Bless his heart, he appeared as though he would shake it until Reno thought better of the idea—after all, he had a pretty good clue of where that hand had been, and recently too—and sat down on the edge of the bed to light a cigarette instead. He stopped to shoot out the smoke detector with his EMR first, much to the displeasure of the room's other occupants.

"What is the meaning of this intrusion?" Rufus stood on as much dignity as a man bobbing at half mast could muster. It wasn't much, and the bathrobe helpfully supplied by Cloud did little to change the situation. Reno rolled his eyes.

"Sir. An attempt has been made on your life. Strife is the one who uncovered it, as the _Turks_," he paused to blow a smoke ring, "lacked certain intel to do the job." He looked for all the world as though he were going to continue the conversation, right there on the edge of Steve's bed, with the President in his bathrobe. Cloud watched, somewhere between amused and really, really grossed out.

"Reno? Maybe we should leave the President to his business." Reno sighed and paged his commander.

"Yes, he is alive and well but has company. I recommend posting a guard until he returns alone to his suite. You're welcome, sir." He leveled a pointed look at Rufus and walked out to wait for the guard to arrive. "I'm tempted just to go to fucking bed already. The man circumvented his Turks, you, and an assassin. Steve seems to be covering his ass pretty well, I'd say. Gods, I may never be able to eat at a state dinner again." But whatever else he was, Reno was good at his job. The guard arrived with Rude not far behind. Reno swore the man was smiling behind his shades.

* * *

><p>Back in their room, Cloud and Reno shared a bottle of single malt whiskey. It was kind of a tradition.<p>

"Well, that was eventful."

"No shit." Reno stubbed out his cigarette in an empty glass, several smoke alarms hanging helplessly from the ceiling by charred wires.

"You know that's illegal, right? Violation of fire code?"

"Look, it's either that or prop the door open to sandwich myself between it and the end of the balcony and blow the smoke out the crack between. I tried that yesterday and the wind blew the door back and almost broke my thumb. I hate nature. What's next, stepping in sheep shit?"

They left the next day. Reno was counting the hours. Cloud was laughing at him. "You know, it's not that bad. Nice things are in the country too."

"Name one."

"Us, now." Reno looked unconvinced, until Cloud gave him a kiss that made him forget everything outside that room, lit only by the moonlight off the lake and their own passion.


End file.
